Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of sod harvesters and, more specifically, to a sod roll layer compactor
Description of the Related Art
A typical a sod harvester cuts a slab of sod and rolls each slab into a cylindrical roll. The sod rolls are then transferred to and stacked on a pallet for delivery. Various mechanized sod handling equipment is known in the prior art. Of particular interest here are mechanized devices for creating rolls from slabs of sod. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,296,003 and 6,364,027 both disclose sod rolling mechanisms. Typically, a sod roller includes a conveyor that transfers and rolls the sod slabs. A friction ladder is supported above the conveyor and the conveyor belt acts to roll each sod slab against the ladder. Sod rolls are accumulated in an array which is then stacked in layers of alternating rows and columns. The layers of sod rolls are stacked on a pallet to facilitate transport to the location needing fresh sod. Generally, pallets of sod are loaded on a truck for transport. In traditional sod harvesting equipment the sod roll layers are not particularly compact. Thus, the stacks often extend beyond the envelope of a typical pallet, which may necessitate more room on the truck, thereby limiting how many stacks can be loaded for a single delivery. Furthermore, the rolls may have a tendency to come unrolled if not tightly packed in stack form for transport.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus that stacks layers of sod rolls in a compact fashion to minimize shipping space and help ensure that sod rolls do not come unrolled.